In the world of Asian film there is no greater name than Akira
Kurosawa, the director whose career spanned six decades, who ultimately
transcended any regional or ethnic designation to become one of the
world’s finest cinematic craftsmen. Throughout his prolific career his
script supervisor, Teruyo Nogami, was almost always at his side,
orchestrating the complex shots and sets demanded by the meticulous
Kurosawa, and Nogami became a firsthand witness to his genius, as well
as his faults.

During the 1990s, Nogami produced a series of essays for a Japanese
film magazine (Kinema Kurabu), and those essays, with several
others, are collected in Waiting for the Weather, creating a
strikingly human portrayal of a man whose life and work have become
legendary.

Nogami began her career under the influence of Mansaku Itami, a very
influential figure in early Japanese film. After seeing his film
Akanishi Kakita (1936) she was so moved that she wrote Itami a fan
letter. Surprisingly, he replied with an autographed copy of one of his
books, thus beginning a correspondence that lasted until his death, and
greatly influenced the young Nogami. Later, as a work-hungry apprentice
at Daiei Kyoto Studios — a job arising from her connection to Itami —
Nogami worked with Kurosawa on his classic Rashomon, and later
followed him to Tokyo and Toho studios, where she would continue as his
regular script supervisor for the rest of his career.

A script supervisor is sometimes credited as "Continuity," and this
designation points toward the essence of the job — ensuring a logical
continuity between shots. Because films are almost never shot in the
same scene-by-scene order in which they will ultimately appear, a script
supervisor ensures, for example, that the costume a character wears in
one shot is identical to her costume in succeeding shots, even if days
or months have intervened between the two shootings. This requires an
intimate knowledge of the script and shooting schedule, and Kurosawa’s
well-known attention to detail meant Nogami was under a great deal of
pressure. The fact that she persisted in this job means, of course, that
she did a very good job, even by Kurosawa’s exacting standards.

Nogami’s work in film production also makes her memoir an education
in filmmaking, particularly Kurosawa’s contributions to the craft. When
his editors followed the then-standard procedure of editing the dailies
from each day’s shooting, Kurosawa exploded and insisted upon seeing
unedited dailies, a practice which is now universal. Nogami will
undoubtedly educate readers in other aspects of filmmaking; I learned
that the pre-shot "clapper" not only marks details about the shot to
follow, but also facilitates sound synchronization.

Thus Waiting for the Weather is an education in many ways, all
of them entertaining as well. Her anecdotes both lend personality to the
story and refer to the meaning behind the title. Because Kurosawa wanted
each scene and shot to be perfect, he would often assemble the cast and
crew on location, in full costume, only to wait for hours until the sky
cleared or the perfect collection of clouds drifted into view. Though it
enraged studio financiers, Kurosawa’s costly dedication to detail
reveals his idiosyncratic craftsmanship, and these "down times" during
filming allowed for the sort of storytelling Nogami engages in
throughout the book.

The construction of her stories in Weather, assembled from
earlier essays and later additions, leads to the book’s only real
shortcoming: its repetitions and scattershot style. Nogami may reference
an event several times throughout the book before fully explaining it,
and one film (Dersu Uzala, Kurosawa’s Soviet collaboration)
receives far more attention than the rest of Kurosawa’s vast body of
work combined. Though there is a rough chronology to her stories, she
still skips back and forth in time, giving the book a jumpy, episodic
feel. And those readers wishing for a traditionally constructed memoir
or an exhaustive history of Nogami’s life will also be disappointed.
Nogami would likely never produce such a work; she is extremely humble
and recognizes that her importance comes more from her association with
greatness than from her own individual accomplishments.

In spite of these minor faults, Weather is both enjoyable and
essential, and film students as well as Kurosawa fans will find it
revealing and engaging. Nogami tells her story without foregrounding
herself, and employs characteristically Asian touches, such as when she
reveals the nature of Kurosawa or Itami by sharing haiku they have
written. Her slightly cartoonish illustrations lend further depth and
emotion to this work, providing the same sort of life-in-miniature
perspective of the book. Though neither exhaustive nor entirely
chronological, Waiting for the Weather gives us a fascinating
snapshot into the personality, mind, and style of Kurosawa, creating a
nuanced and very intimate look at this legendary Japanese filmmaker.